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Friday, 12 May 2017

So I wrote a comic.

It's taken me some time to get around to writing this post. However, it is something I felt I should do because not only is it a rare thing for me to be proud of something I've done (which I am), but also because it felt write to share the talent of my collaborator.

This story (the making of story more than the actual comic) started at the beginning of this year. I received a message from comic book creator (and my pal) Matt Garvey, who informed me of a competition he had decided to run through the Millarworld forum he was a part of to give unpublished creators the chance to have a four page comic printed in the back of one of his future works.

I recall thinking that this was a great idea and, after some encouragement (and possibly abuse) from Matt, I decided to give it a try.

Now, as I attempted to make this dream a reality, I remember that the various aspect of creating this comic had varying levels of difficulty. The writing of this story's script I, surprisingly, found to be the easiest part of the whole endeavour, with my being able to complete it within a lunch hour. What was more difficult was coming up with the idea in the first place, until it finally hit during a daft Twitter conversation with Matt and Joseph Nathan Smith (to which both get my grateful thanks).

However, the most difficult part of the whole endeavour was finding an artist who wasn't published (scratching out most my rolodex) and who wanted to work on the idea I had. Thank God then for the great talent of Ayoade Adobarin, an artist who answered my general call on the forum and brought with him a talent which exceeded what I thought it would look like. I've praised a lot of artists in my time, but this guy takes the biscuit (the cake, the whole damn shop) for not only making a bar bones idea look infinitely better, but also putting up with my vague flights of fancy. (Side note, if you are a creator wanting an artist, you can do a hell of a lot worse than this guy.)

In the end, sadly, it was all for nought as we didn't win. However, this isn't a problem for me as, first of all, we were beaten by a far superior idea (which I look forward to seeing in the finished article). But also, it showed me what I can do when I put my mind to it and that belief in oneself (along with Matt Garvey hurling insults) can achieve anything.

So, with that in mind, I figured I'd put up the finished article here to show everyone that if an idiot like me can help make four pages of comic book goodness then it's a possibility for anyone.

With that in mind, here is the comic Ayoade and I made. We hope you enjoy.